DSEK gets a shot in the arm

MHRD approves funds for school up-gradation

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Srinagar: The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has approved an amount of Rs 71.59 crore for construction and up gradation of boys and girls toilets, boundary walls and additional classrooms in government educational institutions.
An official said the department of school education and literacy in MHRD sanctioned the amount in the last Project Approval Board (PAB) meeting convened in June this year for Samagra Shiksha.
MHRD has also approved construction of 12 new primary schools at a total estimated cost of Rs 3.20 crore in J&K state.
As per the minutes of the meeting, the approval was also given for up gradation of 15 primary schools to upper primary schools at an estimated cost of around Rs 3 Crore.
As per the official figures, there are around 23,773 government schools in J&K- 12,252 in Jammu and 11,495 in Kashmir division.
Notably, the former education minister in the last budget session had revealed that the government schools lack all the basic facilities like electricity, drinking water, lavatories, ramps, playgrounds, computer-aided labs and tools of modern learning like smart classrooms.
As per official figures, 17,901 out of 23,773 schools are without electricity while as 17,167 are without boundary walls and 17,112 are without any playgrounds. Also, 26000 toilets units and lavatories in the government schools are in a dilapidated condition. Nearly 1000 girl’s schools are without any toilet facilities.
The state is also lagging behind in most of the indicators of development set by MHRD like in learning outcomes, female literacy, drop-out and retention rate, enrolment of out-of-school children and children with special needs. The official figures reveal that 50 percent of all government schools were in a semi-dilapidated state.
Meanwhile, MHRD has approved an amount of Rs 47.64 crore for various activities, including early literacy and mathematics, supplementary for languages and mathematics, worksheet for students to improve learning outcomes for various districts and remedial teaching.
Pertinently, the MHRD from this year released funds under Samagra Shiksha which subsumes erstwhile three schemes Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Teacher Education.